How UK online businesses are levelling up their customer experience

If you’ve been in the UK e-commerce space, you know how incredibly competitive it has become. Grand View Research recently released a report claiming that it generated a revenue of $363 million in 2023, which could jump to $927.9 million by 2030. If that’s not enough, Charlie, an award-winning Shopify agency & ecommerce expert, says this country has the third biggest e-commerce market worldwide.

Agreeably, surviving in such an expansive industry requires a lot of strategy and innovation. And one of the ways businesses are improving their edge is by levelling up their customer experience. Take the online casino industry, for instance. Even new casinos in the UK are prioritising smoother user journeys, faster support and more transparent communication to stand out in a crowded market.

These online businesses have realised that the modern customer expects more than just a product. Without a seamless shopping experience, from cart to checkout,  customers could get frustrated and even turn to competitors who are always just a few clicks away. 

And since no one wants to incur such a loss, it’s no surprise that, according to Zendesk, 90% of businesses across all verticals have made customer experience (CX) their primary focus. But how specifically do the UK digital businesses level up their CX?

Optimising their platforms for mobile use

According to Finder.com, 95% of UK residents own a smartphone. That’s roughly about 53 million people. And since smartphones are convenient and flexible, it makes sense to see most of these individuals using them as primary tools for accessing the internet. As a forward-thinking organisation, you want to ensure your platform is mobile-friendly to avoid frustrating such users.

With modern consumers becoming intolerant of slow-loading pages and clunky websites, the importance of having a mobile-friendly platform can’t be overstated. Can you believe that, according to HostingAdvice.com, every second delay in load time can decrease conversions by 7%? And if your online business racks in more than $100,000 per day and it is slow, you risk losing up to $2.5 million in sales annually, says the institution.  

Statistics of this nature explain why most UK e-commerce platforms are responsive. Responsive platforms use a single codebase that adapts to different devices, which eliminates the need for multiple website versions. They also optimise resources like images, so only the necessary assets are downloaded for each device.

Beyond improving speed, responsive platforms also ensure seamless multi-screen access. Using flexible layouts, these platforms eliminate the need to pinch or zoom a clunky website when buyers switch to small-sized devices like smartphones.

Paying attention to the payment experience

Unsurprisingly, leading e-commerce companies in the UK heavily invest in effective payment methods. In this age, where no one is willing to wait, you don’t want to have slow payment methods. In fact, according to Testlio, about seven in ten users expect their funds to take two seconds or less to be processed. Another study by Juniper Research claims that the instant payment market size might expand by 161% within the next few years.

And you don’t expect this trend to be different in the UK. Looking at the statistics, Projective Group says Faster Payments processed over 3.8 billion transactions in 2023, which was an 18% increase from 2022. The last thing you want in such a time when everyone is welcoming fast payment methods is to slow them down with outdated or inconvenient transaction systems.

To keep up, these businesses are incorporating digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Others even go the extra mile to integrate more contemporary options like crypto. Because of its decentralised nature, crypto can process transactions in seconds, offering customers a fast alternative to traditional banking.

Besides speed, organisations are also simplifying checkout flows. Gone are the days when you’d need to create lengthy accounts or fill in multiple forms to access a service. Today, many platforms offer one-click payments and guest checkouts. The idea is to reduce the friction at checkout as much as possible in order to ensure customers complete their purchase with minimal effort. Such experiences make it easy for shoppers to navigate a platform, which leads to improved user satisfaction and ultimately better business performance.

Customising the experience to match individual preferences

Imagine walking into your favourite local shop, where the owner already knows and recommends what you like. Familiarity of this level could make you feel valued and even turn you into a loyal shopper. Modern consumers want to feel seen and not just sold to. So, when a business personalises the shopping experience, it sends the message that the customer is more than just a number on a dashboard.

All it takes is to analyse aspects like a customer’s browsing behaviour, purchase history and even the time they linger on a product page. With this information, an online business can tailor recommendations in a way that feels natural and helpful. For example, a customer who frequently shops for eco-friendly products might be shown a curated section of sustainably sourced items. Another shopper who tends to buy around seasonal events may receive early-access notifications for related holiday deals.

According to WiserNotify, over six in ten (64%) of marketers cite customer satisfaction as the top-most benefit of personalisation. And since the UK ecommerce sector is becoming super competitive, it makes sense to see businesses implement this approach in a bid to maintain competitiveness.

In short, competition has become so fierce in this sector that businesses have to pay attention to CX to survive. By adopting responsive designs, seamless payments and personalising experiences, UK online businesses are able to provide customer-first journeys that encourage return visits.